Footwear cost-per-unit trend

Each point is the monthly median cost-per-unit across priced footwear lots — the middle value, not an average, so one outlier truckload can’t drag the line. A live lot counts in the month it first appeared in the feed; an ended lot counts in the month it closed. Lots match the category by their title — the same category match the live feed uses — and cost per unit is the lot’s price divided by its listed unit count, where the source publishes one.

Months with fewer than 30 priced lots render as insufficient data and stay off the chart — a median over a handful of lots isn’t trustworthy. That floor gates the chart, the “Months with data” stat, and the month table above alike.

The lots behind the series come from the nine marketplaces BStalker scans: Liquidation.com, B-Stock, DirectLiquidation, 888 Lots, Via Trading, BlueLots, GovDeals, Musick, and QuickBidz. Sitewide medians, discount-vs-retail, and closing-time patterns are on the statistics page.

Footwear lots are branded-return and overstock sneaker, boot, and sandal pallets, usually manifested by size run and brand. Size distribution is the whole game — a lot heavy on common sizes sells differently than one full of odd sizes. Auction platforms carry mixed-brand returns; wholesale distributors list case-pack overstock by style.

Footwear per-unit reads clean because units are usually well-manifested, but the size run inside the manifest is what actually determines sell-through. BStalker shows the per-unit cost; it does not evaluate the size distribution.

What goes into a per-unit number — bids, buyer premiums, freight — is covered in liquidation pallet costs explained, and the live lots themselves are on the footwear lots page.